I have been on Pandora for a couple of weeks now, and have a question or two before i invest too much into it.
I have played a few non OSI shards for a long time, and have found Pandora offers far superior features and connection (from Australia), as well as really easy startup.
But, I am finding the community difficult to get into.
There always seems to be 100+ online, but I rarely see other (non afk or macro'ing) people ingame, in-game chat is rare and mainly trades or newbie questions, the guild forum and new player intro's on the forum are pretty much dead.
I would really like to make a home here, and am not trying to offend anyone, but am i just missing something, is it just my timezone, or am i expecting too much
Krynge
As the world is quite large it can sometimes be hard to find others. Try luna and New insula to get to know people. or join a guild like HTC they are quite active.
Other then that i cannot help you i'm affraid.
Hope this helped a little bit.
Welcome to Pandora
I will have to dis agree with you on a couple things, but still a matter of opinion, but let me try and explain the best I can. 8-)
Our forums are highly active (to active imo for a server, cause I have to keep hiring mods for it). But a big part of it is to read about updates or hold votes on changes to the shard. Some days they are hopping, others not so much.
Also the people you see afk, well you see them because your not going deep into Pandora yet where older players are etc. We have 6 facets, the maps are huge. But like any game, especially UO your going to see afkers. But don't worry their only afk cause they will be back!
We usually have 200+ plus on, not 100+.
If you need a new community right away join the NPA (New Players Alliance) I believe by [pm "Galron" for the info inside the game.
Global chat during Australia timezone is going to be less active. But also keep in mind there are strict rules for using global chat (no big shard has global because it's to hard to control, we after a couple years have found a nice balance for it) -- There is a long delay, so people don't spam it. Say you say something, it wont show the 2nd thing you said for around another 2-3 minutes. It's more of a place for basic questions or let players know about an event, etc.
We have several players from Australia, but yes your time zone could be effecting it as a lot of players live in the states. And I am not sure what you are expecting, but I believe Pandora goes above and beyond your average rink dink free UO shard. We plan on being online for many years to come. Man in the UO community, even those who don't play Pandora have said its the best free shard ever made.
I believe you might be overwhelmed for a little, there is many, many features on Pandora. Once you know everything you can do I believe you will not get bored for a long time.
I hope you stay, most people who start do :) -- We update quite often and have a full staff who really care about it. I hope I have shed some light on your concerns.
Welcome.
Konstantine was correct with the NPA thing, however [pm me in game (Sticky), i would be more than happy to talk to you and help you here on pandora by joining NPA =) we have many helpful guild members who are more than happy to help give you direction or even assist you with things in game =)